Because every prices emanate from the subjective preferences of consumers.
“Customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.” – Steve Jobs
”Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself.” – Charlie Munger
“Live in the future and build what seems interesting.” – Paul Graham
“There’s only one boss, and that is the customer—they can fire us anytime they want by spending their money elsewhere” – Sam Walton
Building what people want means finding out how much people know (and don’t know) since demand is shaped by available knowledge—to that extent you can (and should) know how far ahead you are in terms of knowledge. I-was-too-ahead-of-my-time type of excuse simply implies a lack of understanding in one’s part about knowledge status of others—which is a part of reality. You have to take into account the knowledge status of others.
But if people’s expectations are stupid, as Buffett and Munger would argue, just don’t deal with them (this holds particularly for equities since there is loose correspondence between the plan structure and the portfolio structure in equities—see, e.g., Lachmann).revisit
And you can always educate other people—directly or indirectly through your product. This is what Bob Noyce did during his time with Intel.
Next:
- 7-1a Create something you would want for yourself, and never for some imaginary audience
- 7-2 Long optionality, volatility, change
Related:
- 1-1a5b4.4 Real-time calibration (i.e., recalibration) lets you adapt to the changing landscape
- 1-1a5b4.5 Truth is about correspondence with reality
- 3-1c1d8 Sentiment (both macro and micro) is important and should be measured
- 7-1d Create something simpler-faster-cheaper for things we’ve been doing for thousands of years
- You must evoke others each with his own unique knowledge about the world. See Lachmann for more.